Callahan: Jerod Mayo’s Patriots are tempting more sweeping offseason changes
The Patriots were expected to lose. But losing like this, while they regress, coach poorly and make a mess at the podium, could invite more trouble than anyone expected next month.
It’s one thing to lose a laugher like the Patriots did Sunday.
They were a bad, rebuilding team on the road against a desperate opponent whose playoff hopes hinged on winning out and some good luck.
Whatever.
But this wasn’t that.This was the Patriots playing on the road and committing the cardinal sin of a rebuilding program: showing they had learned nothing.
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Seriously, what did they do over their bye week?
If the Pats had sharpened their defensive fundamentals against the run, you would think they wouldn’t lose the edge like their cars keys.
If they had self-scouted, you would hope they had found a bottom-10 ranking in short-yardage offense and opted to throw in a wrinkle or two near the goal line.
If they had scouted Arizona, you would figure they would know their defense is below-average against deep passes, and therefore attempted at least one throw longer than five yards downfield in the first half.
They didn’t. Instead, they puked up another performance and more post-game quotes that have me wondering: where is the leadership here? Where is the hope?
Asked about the team’s offensive play-calling at the goal line in the third quarter, and whether the Pats had considered utilizing Drake Maye as a runner before getting stuffed twice on hand-offs, Jerod Mayo seemed to throw his offensive coordinator under the bus.
“You said it,” Mayo told a reporter post-game. “I didn’t.”
Are you kidding?
Mayo tried to take accountability while answering a follow-up question, claiming all play-calls fall under his jurisdiction. Too late.
The cat was out of the bag, and it had already begun peeing all over his beloved stat sheet. The same stat sheet Mayo referenced to again bail out his defense with a diet version of his “well, if you take this out” excuse.
“Once again, you let up a big run play that really hurts us,” Mayo said, “and really skews the rest of the stats.”
Sure, if you removed James Conner’s 53-yard run, the Cardinals only averaged 3.6 yards per carry. But that play happened, and your run defense got steamrolled over back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter that ended the game. Arizona also converted 69% of its third and fourth downs when rushing. And a third of all the Cardinals’ run plays picked up a first down.
Bottom line: the defense is a disaster, no matter how many plays you pick out. It ranked dead last by DVOA entering kickoff, and that isn’t changing come Tuesday. Enough talent is there.
Christian Barmore returned a month ago. Jabrill Peppers is back. Christian Gonzalez locked down Arizona’s No. 1 receiver, broke up three passes against one allowed catch, and it didn’t matter.
Nothing might matter if you believe defensive captain Deatrich Wise, who said this when asked about the significance of the Patriots’ final four games: “If we finish right, we’re telling everybody that the hard work that we put in, it matters.”
Sidebar: I don’t want to hear about a questionable roughing the passer penalty in the third quarter that negated an interception which could have changed the game. Bad calls, questionable calls, happen. The Pats trailed 16-3 in that moment, and had just been stuffed twice at the goal line.
That space, those three feet, separate teams from who they are and who they want to be. The Patriots are not remotely close to the team they believe they’re capable of being. That’s on Mayo, Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington.
What the Patriots’ coaching staff is doing now is tempting the Krafts to make more sweeping regime changes next month. Again, there are losses, and there’s what this team did Sunday and has done since the middle of the season. Regress.
The offense, believe it or not, had made progress, even if Alex Van Pelt’s play-calling played defense against his own players Sunday.
Why not a quarterback sneak at the goal line? How about Maye’s first option run of the season? Why were a majority of Maye’s pass attempts screen passes deep into the second quarter? And why are the Pats routinely throwing short on third-and-long?
Why does Ja’Lynn Polk, your second-round pick, have two catches and six targets since Halloween? How does an offensive line, off five straight practices without a game, continue to commit penalties and suffer from bad snaps and missed assignments? Where is the development?
I have never been closer to believing Mayo could lose his job after one season, and even then, I am not that close. But Sunday’s broadcast showed team president Jonathan Kraft visibly exasperated in the visiting owners box while watching an offensive drive Sunday. He also held a sheet of paper and a pen, seemingly to take notes on the disaster unfolding before him; roughly an hour before the Pats got stuffed at the goal line.
I would love to know what Jonathan had scribbled done, and how close the Krafts are again to shaking up their organization. That, now, is the backdrop against which the Patriots will finish their season.
The good news: there are only three games left to find out.
The bad news: there are still three games left to find out how far away rock bottom really is.
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